The Kenyan national anthem was played twice during the closing ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in front of an audience of about three billion people from around the world who followed the Summer Games in the Japanese City.
This was after Eliud Kipchoge and Peris Jepchirchir won the men’s and women’s marathon titles, respectively, and were awarded during the closing ceremony.
The Kenyan athlete is arguably the biggest Kenyan export, so isn’t it time to rethink brand Kenya strategy by picking brand ambassadors from our great sportspersons?
From the biggest names like Kipchoge, who is also the men’s marathon world record holder, to the fast-rising tennis teenage sensation Wimbledon doubles junior champion, Angella Okutoyi.
In the last few months, Kenya has been in the spotlight with Amos Kipruto flooring other world greats to win the London Marathon title a fortnight ago and Ruth Chepn’getich totally outrunning her opponents last Sunday for a convincing win of the Chicago Marathon that came close to the World Record by 14 seconds.
The new sprints sensation not only in Kenya but in the world, Ferdinand Omanyala, and Sabrina Simader — Kenya’s sole representative at the Winter Olympics in the last two Olympics — raised the country’s profile.
Sabrina drew a lot of media interest, and caused a lot of excitement when she participated in the 2018 Winter Olympics. She was recognised and appointed as a UN environment ambassador the same year.
We have numerous Kenyan teams travelling year-round around the world to take part in championships. They already are great representatives of the Kenyan colours, and they could be ambassadors too.
The Kenya Sevens rugby team —Shujaa, participates in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in 11 cities year-round in all continents.
From Hong Kong, to Sydney, to Cape Town to Vancouver. The team is one of the most popular in the world with its flair, caliber of athletes and great performances.
Malkia Strikers, the national women’s volleyball team, was in training in Brazil and Serbia for two months before taking part in the 2022 FIVB World Championships in the Netherlands.
Some examples of using sport to brand the country are the “Visit Rwanda” and “Visit Malaysia” campaigns. These countries use the tags to create publicity using their respective prominent football teams. A few Kenyan-based companies are already leveraging the brand, like Total and Isuzu.
The country could borrow a leaf, and with the new administration now taking shape, we could have an inter-ministerial team composed of the Ministry of Sports, the Ministry of Tourism and the Foreign Affairs working on such strategies.
The Kenyan athlete is the pride of Africa, which also presents a great opportunity for the national airline, Kenya Airways.
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games is 649 days away. Once again, it is a great opportunity to leverage the Kenyan athletics brand to market the country. This time we will be looking at disciplines from 100 metres sprints all the way to the marathon.
The National Olympic Committee of Kenya already has an athletics training agreement with the South of France region of Bouche-Du-Rhone.
From this year, Team Kenya will be training in the region, in addition to cultural exchange programmes. Kenya could get involved in such activities to interest the South of France in tourism in Kenya.
Through co-funding, the Ministry of Tourism could work with NOC-K to train and brand the identified athletes, so that they can also be aware of marketing not just themselves but also the country when they travel abroad.
The strategy for development of Kenya House should also start as soon as possible. Other countries have done it in the pre-Games cities as well as in the host city during the Games.
Paris is one of the most popular tourism destinations, which the entire Europe will be watching.
There will be a lot of activities in the run up to the Olympics which Kenya can take advantage of, and this does not need to wait until 2024.
